Loire
Details
Information
Number	42
Region	Rhône-Alpes
Prefecture	Saint-Étienne
Subprefectures	Montbrison Roanne
Population  - Total (1999)  - Density	Ranked 27th 728,524 152 /km²
Area	4,781 km²
Censored pages	Censored page
Cantons	40
Communes	327
President of the general council	Pascal Clément
Location

Loire is a département in the east-central part of France occupying the Loire River's upper reaches.

Contents

1 History 2 Geography 3 Demographics 4 External links

History

Loire was created in 1793 when the original department of Rhône-et-Loire was split.

Its capitals have been the following:

• Feurs from 1793-1795
• Montbrison from 1795-1855
• Saint-Étienne since 1855

Geography

Loire is part of the current region of Rhône-Alpes and is surrounded by the departments of Rhône, Isère, Ardèche, Haute-Loire, Puy-de-Dôme, Allier, and Saône-et-Loire.

The Loire crosses the department from south to north.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Ligériens.

The industrial city of Saint-Étienne with its suburbs contains some 290,000 of the area's 728,542 inhabitants.

External links

• Prefecture website http://www.loire.pref.gouv.fr/ (in French)
• Conseil Général website http://www.cg42.fr/ (in French)
• St. Étienne website http://www.tourisme-st-etienne.com/site_ang/index.htm (in English)

French départements
France | Administrative divisions | régions | départements | Censored page | cantons | communes
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 2A | 2B | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95
Les DOM-TOM: 971 | 972 | 973 | 974 | 975 | 976 | 986 | 987 | 988 | French Southern Territories | Îles Éparses